Colour and Composition 5-7 - Three Works in Progress

Last year Neil Broadfoot taught a class in colour and composition. Each day he gave us exercises to help us develop our skills using the primary colours.


Colour and Composition 5

Then we made the secondary colours using various combinations of the primary colours; and to develop compositions using colour, size and shapes.


Colour and Composition 6

The last one was to help us develop our creative skills.

It consisted of making seven similar pieces and create different paintings from each of them.

Colour and Composition 7

Taking a Bribe - A Work in Progress

This is a sketch that I have been working on about one of the many ways to catch a horse out in a large field.

I was always fortunate that with any of my horses all I had to do was call their names and they came to me. But it certainly doesn't hurt to offer a bribe for good behaviour.














I will post this painting at a later date once I have transferred the drawing to the watercolour paper.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and enjoy the artwork. I hope you will return often.

Mailbox I

Mailboxes are often found along country roads and they can be in many different shapes and sizes.

Depending how close the houses are together you may see only one at the end of each driveway, or where there are a number of homes on a Fire Route or on a private road there could be a lot of them sitting one beside the other.
















Mailbox 1 is an original 3" x 5" matted and shrink wrapped pen and ink drawing available for $30.00.

Sunrise Seagulls - A Work in Progress

While going through some canvases that had been started I came across this painting called Sunrise on the Lake (see posting on 25 Jul 2010).















I have decided to change the name to Sunrise Seagulls and turn it into a painting of the Caribbean, namely the eastern shore of Aruba.

I have indicated where I will change the shape of the rocks to look like the cliffs and have drawn in where I will have the waves coming in toward the shore.

I will post this painting once I have painted in the water and then will figure out where I will place the seagulls.

Tassy and Tracker

At this point I look for any slight smudges that may have occurred during the course of layering in all the details and remove them with a white eraser.

After signing the painting I like to spray a final light layer of fixative over the surface to prevent any of the graphite moving from where it has been placed.



I hope you have enjoyed seeing the way I work on dog head studies from the original sketch through to the completed drawing.

I would like to thank Ms. Mary Ellen Lomax of Bowmanville, Ontario for commissioning me to do this original 11" x 14" framed graphite pencil drawing.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my artwork and I hope you will return often.

Drawing the German Shorthaired Pointer - Markings

Now that I have completed Tracker's head it is time to put the markings on Tassy.

This is the time consuming part and a lot of care must be taken as it is very easy to get lost in the placement of the markings.

I started by lightly indicating the masses of freckles at the front of the neck and the direction of the hair whorls.

There was also an almost circular spot where the solid markings of the neck met the freckled mass which I put in as another marker.

Gradually more of the freckles were put into the neck following the direction of the hair.

Care was taken to follow the size and shape of some of the larger spots on the neck and top of the shoulder.

Once the markings were finished I lightly added in a little shadow to the white areas to indicate the muscle mass in the shoulder.

Stained Glass

Today I painted with the Lakefield Creative Arts Guild and discussed the upcoming plans to hold an art show and tea in June. There are many things yet to be worked out including the date which I will post as soon as I know.

I decided that I wanted to do more work on this abstract I had started a while ago (see posts on 13 April 10, 15 April 10 and 18 January 11) and get it completed.

I added a thin line of blue to the left side of the white area and decided that the white bar needed to be toned down slightly. I used a wash of pale blue and then added a hint of alizarin crimson.

Then I added a few more bars, dots and small shapes to the painting in burnt sienna and in various dark mixtures to complete the painting.

Stained Glass is an original 11" x 15” watercolour and will be available when framed for $395.00.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and look at the artwork.